The “Spice Rack” is a concept I have advocated previously for Farmville. A mechanism to purchase items that would accelerate / change the equations for existing actions. (My original request was for increased levels in Farmville to actually accelerate the length of time it would take you to harvest any crop, like a 10% cut in time, etc.)

For this analysis, I’ve started with the simplest spices: Super Salt and Power Pepper.

For each dish, I calculated the increase (or decrease) in profit for buying the spice and applying it to one dish for the cycle. I assume that Café World rounds down when you apply the 5% or 10% increase in number of servings. I express the number as an “Return on Investment” percentage (ROI) on the cost of the spice.

So, for example, if spending 600 coins on Power Pepper yield an extra 150 coins of profit after subtracting the cost of the pepper, I describe that as a “25% ROI” for Pepper for that dish.

Results of Spiceonomics

There are a few very interesting takeaways from the table below:

Spices are rarely worth it. Salt & Pepper have negative ROIs for almost all dishes. In fact, in the history of the game, only 9 dishes are profitable when using the spices. Interestingly, Grand Tandoori Chicken is net neutral (ROI = 0%).

Spices help more advanced players. Almost all the dishes with positive ROI are at the higher levels.

Spices help infrequent players more. The way the numbers work out, all the dishes where spices help are longer cooking time dishes. This is good for players that might only play the game once a day (say, in the evening).

Have trouble figuring out whether Mystical Pizza is a good dish? Deciding on whether to make the Dino Egg or Rackasaurus Ribs? My Google Doc is now updated with tables for all 62 Cafe World dishes for data, and color coded based the cooking time of each dish, to help make picking the right dish easy. Rather than cut & paste everything here, I’m going to just link to the doc.

So I take the time to create a whole new post for Café World in 2010, and what does Zynga do? They roll out some new crazy dishes based on an alien invasion, and now I’m 1.6M Café coins poorer. Oh well.

I find it fairly interesting that Zynga is clearly mapping the same thematic variants from Farmville to their other games. I remember when they did the space theme for Farmville (I still have 5 alien cows that produce Milktonium as proof…)

I won’t repeat the previous analysis. As a reminder, all of these numbers assume:

The numbers are per dish, per stove

The numbers assume the cost (15 coins) and experience (+1) of cleaning the stove each cycle

Profit & Cafe Points tables assume “instant” cleaning time.

Real World Hourly Wages assumes a cleaning time of 1 minute per stove.

You can read my previous posts for the rational behind these assumptions.

Profit per Dish

Here are the dishes, sorted by profitability as measured by profit per dish per day.

Dish

Profit / Cycle

Cycle Time

Profit / Day

V.I.P. Dinner

9,786.00

1,080.00

13,048.00

Bacon Cheeseburger

22.00

5.00

6,336.00

Overstuffed Peppers

2,985.00

720.00

5,970.00

Kung Pao Stir Fry

985.00

240.00

5,910.00

Delicious Chocolate Cake

3,435.00

840.00

5,888.57

Fiery Fish Tacos

490.00

120.00

5,880.00

Lemon Butter Lobster

485.00

120.00

5,820.00

Martian Brain Bake

5,585.00

1,440.00

5,585.00

Shu Mai Dumplings

1,355.00

360.00

5,420.00

King Crab Bisque

5,370.00

1,440.00

5,370.00

Lavish Lamb Curry

1,785.00

480.00

5,355.00

Chips and Guacamole

11.00

3.00

5,280.00

Impossible Quiche

10,185.00

2,880.00

5,092.50

Powdered French Toast

67.00

20.00

4,824.00

Super Chunk Fruit Salad

50.00

15.00

4,800.00

Atomic Buffalo Wings

595.00

180.00

4,760.00

Jammin’ Jelly Donuts

65.00

20.00

4,680.00

Smoked Salmon Latkes

385.00

120.00

4,620.00

Tostada de Carne Asada

1,485.00

480.00

4,455.00

Buttermilk Pancakes

135.00

45.00

4,320.00

Tony’s Classic Pizza

885.00

300.00

4,248.00

Stardust Stew

1,535.00

540.00

4,093.33

Chicken Gyro and Fries

28.00

10.00

4,032.00

Grand Tandoori Chicken

3,985.00

1,440.00

3,985.00

Voodoo Chicken Salad

1,960.00

720.00

3,920.00

Chicken Pot Pie

7,585.00

2,880.00

3,792.50

Herbed Halibut

3,785.00

1,440.00

3,785.00

Sweet Seasonal Ham

1,885.00

720.00

3,770.00

Crackling Peking Duck

2,685.00

1,080.00

3,580.00

Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail

68.00

30.00

3,264.00

Savory Stuffed Turkey

2,885.00

1,320.00

3,147.27

Tikka Masala Kabobs

130.00

60.00

3,120.00

Macaroni and Cheese

245.00

120.00

2,940.00

Crème Fraiche Caviar

57.00

30.00

2,736.00

Spaghetti and Meatballs

910.00

480.00

2,730.00

Gingerbread House

13,485.00

7,200.00

2,697.00

Spitfire Roasted Chicken

2,585.00

1,440.00

2,585.00

French Onion Soup

425.00

240.00

2,550.00

Triple Berry Cheesecake

1,235.00

720.00

2,470.00

Caramel Apples

195.00

120.00

2,340.00

Homestyle Pot Roast

3,935.00

2,880.00

1,967.50

Vampire Staked Steak

1,695.00

1,440.00

1,695.00

Pumpkin Pie

845.00

720.00

1,690.00

Café Points per Dish

Here are the dishes, sorted by café points per dish per day.

Dish

Café Points / Cycle

Cycle Time

Café Points / Day

Bacon Cheeseburger

7.00

5.00

2,016.00

Chicken Gyro and Fries

14.00

10.00

2,016.00

Chips and Guacamole

4.00

3.00

1,920.00

Powdered French Toast

21.00

20.00

1,512.00

Super Chunk Fruit Salad

14.00

15.00

1,344.00

Jammin’ Jelly Donuts

15.00

20.00

1,080.00

Crème Fraiche Caviar

22.00

30.00

1,056.00

Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail

21.00

30.00

1,008.00

Buttermilk Pancakes

31.00

45.00

992.00

Lemon Butter Lobster

68.00

120.00

816.00

Smoked Salmon Latkes

63.00

120.00

756.00

Shu Mai Dumplings

156.00

360.00

624.00

Lavish Lamb Curry

200.00

480.00

600.00

Fiery Fish Tacos

49.00

120.00

588.00

Atomic Buffalo Wings

68.00

180.00

544.00

Tikka Masala Kabobs

22.00

60.00

528.00

Macaroni and Cheese

41.00

120.00

492.00

Delicious Chocolate Cake

273.00

840.00

468.00

Kung Pao Stir Fry

75.00

240.00

450.00

Savory Stuffed Turkey

403.00

1,320.00

439.64

Caramel Apples

35.00

120.00

420.00

Overstuffed Peppers

206.00

720.00

412.00

Grand Tandoori Chicken

403.00

1,440.00

403.00

Stardust Stew

139.00

540.00

370.67

Tostada de Carne Asada

123.00

480.00

369.00

French Onion Soup

61.00

240.00

366.00

Voodoo Chicken Salad

168.00

720.00

336.00

Tony’s Classic Pizza

68.00

300.00

326.40

Martian Brain Bake

314.00

1,440.00

314.00

Spaghetti and Meatballs

100.00

480.00

300.00

Triple Berry Cheesecake

140.00

720.00

280.00

King Crab Bisque

252.00

1,440.00

252.00

V.I.P. Dinner

175.00

1,080.00

233.33

Herbed Halibut

225.00

1,440.00

225.00

Crackling Peking Duck

166.00

1,080.00

221.33

Gingerbread House

1,063.00

7,200.00

212.60

Spitfire Roasted Chicken

210.00

1,440.00

210.00

Sweet Seasonal Ham

102.00

720.00

204.00

Impossible Quiche

351.00

2,880.00

175.50

Chicken Pot Pie

307.00

2,880.00

153.50

Pumpkin Pie

76.00

720.00

152.00

Homestyle Pot Roast

279.00

2,880.00

139.50

Vampire Staked Steak

113.00

1,440.00

113.00

Real World Hourly Wage per Dish

Here are the dishes, sorted by the real world hourly wage for each dish per day, in US dollars.

Dish

$ / Hour (Low)

$ / Hour (High)

Gingerbread House

121.35

264.23

Impossible Quiche

91.66

199.57

V.I.P. Dinner

88.07

191.75

Chicken Pot Pie

68.26

148.62

Martian Brain Bake

50.26

109.43

King Crab Bisque

48.33

105.22

Grand Tandoori Chicken

35.86

78.08

Homestyle Pot Roast

35.41

77.10

Herbed Halibut

34.06

74.16

Delicious Chocolate Cake

30.91

67.31

Overstuffed Peppers

26.86

58.49

Savory Stuffed Turkey

25.96

56.53

Crackling Peking Duck

24.16

52.61

Spitfire Roasted Chicken

23.26

50.65

Voodoo Chicken Salad

17.64

38.40

Sweet Seasonal Ham

16.96

36.94

Lavish Lamb Curry

16.06

34.98

Vampire Staked Steak

15.25

33.21

Stardust Stew

13.81

30.08

Tostada de Carne Asada

13.36

29.10

Shu Mai Dumplings

12.19

26.55

Triple Berry Cheesecake

11.11

24.20

Kung Pao Stir Fry

8.86

19.30

Spaghetti and Meatballs

8.19

17.83

Tony’s Classic Pizza

7.96

17.34

Pumpkin Pie

7.60

16.56

Atomic Buffalo Wings

5.35

11.66

Fiery Fish Tacos

4.41

9.60

Lemon Butter Lobster

4.36

9.50

French Onion Soup

3.82

8.33

Smoked Salmon Latkes

3.46

7.54

Macaroni and Cheese

2.20

4.80

Caramel Apples

1.75

3.82

Buttermilk Pancakes

1.21

2.65

Tikka Masala Kabobs

1.17

2.55

Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail

0.61

1.33

Powdered French Toast

0.60

1.31

Jammin’ Jelly Donuts

0.58

1.27

Crème Fraiche Caviar

0.51

1.12

Super Chunk Fruit Salad

0.45

0.98

Chicken Gyro and Fries

0.25

0.55

Bacon Cheeseburger

0.20

0.43

Chips and Guacamole

0.10

0.22

Special Bonus: I’ve now moved my spreadsheet over to this Google Spreadsheet. Now you can see all the rows of calculation for some insight into Café World Economics. As usual, let me know if you find mistakes or have questions…

Updates:

I’ve added the following posts on Café World Economics since this one.